Mobile City Council rejects street paving strategy

View full size(Press-Register/Mike Kittrell)Mobile City Council members have rejected a new street-paving strategy that would have, according to the city engineer, saved taxpayer dollars.

MOBILE, Ala. -- Fresh out of a budget crisis that resulted in a temporary 1-cent sales-tax increase, Mobile City Council members this month rejected a new street-paving strategy that would have, according to the city engineer, saved taxpayer dollars.

Under the current system, City Council members divvy up roughly $1 million generated each year by the city's 4-cents-per gallon gasoline tax, using it to pave a handful of streets in all seven districts.

This method is wasteful because tax money is used to pick up and move heavy equipment instead of to pave streets, the city's engineer, Nick Amberger, told the council earlier this month. It also creates planning headaches as the city tries to coordinate with utility companies whose infrastructure may be disturbed during the paving process, he said.

"It is an inefficient way to spend the limited funds that we have," he told the council. "I accept whatever decision you make, but you hired me to give you my professional opinion."

Amberger proposed consolidating the process, confining the paving to two districts per year.

Confining the work area would have resulted in an estimated savings of up to 5 percent, Amberger told the Press-Register in an interview, which could have been used to pave two or three more streets each year.

It also would have pushed the planning a few years into the future, giving the city enough time to warn utility companies whose pipes are located under future paving projects.

Council members would have been able to pave a larger portion of their districts when their turns came up, but some would have had to wait as long as four years to target streets in their district -- a catch that most council member found politically unpalatable.

"What if that person is running for re-election?" joked Council President Reggie Copeland during a recent meeting.

"I've got streets in my district that haven't been resurfaced in 20 years," Councilwoman Connie Hudson told the Press-Register. "I can't ask my constituents to wait four more years before they get those city services.

"I'm all about serving the citizens I represent. Paving on an annual basis is the best strategy."

Councilman John Williams said the plan didn't go far enough. He said that streets ought to be prioritized citywide and paved on the basis of need, regardless of district.

"People need to stop thinking 'Am I getting my share?' he said. "Paving is like drainage, it's a citywide issue."

Councilwoman Gina Gregory was the only one to voice support for the new plan.

She said that it might be politically difficult to tell people that they would have to wait, but ultimately, what voters want is for politicians to be efficient with their money.

The proposal was discussed at a handful of meetings, but ultimately died this month without coming to a formal vote.

Al Stokes, Mayor Sam Jones' chief of staff, said the current system is dictated by custom, not law. The city could plan street paving according to its own criteria, but nothing would get done because the council has to vote to pay for it.

"The authority is on our side to do what we think is appropriate," he said. "But we live in a political world and that dictates, to a certain point, what we do."

The new plan may have been shot down, but Amberger said he believes that progress was made through the discussion.

"I think we are headed in the same direction," he said. "I think everyone understands that we need to have better planning and coordination."